The Professors' Assistants
by movedto-theycallmeruthless
Summary: Yeah, try sticking three trainers working for professors on one journey. I'd like to see where that gets you. Adventure, romance and complete insanity... that sounds about right.
1. We've Been Here Too Long

_Brendan's POV_

"Hey... good battle." I looked up and saw a boy, the one who I had just battled (obviously).

If you don't know who I am, you might have been living under a rock for the past thirteen years of your life. And no, I'm not being an arrogant jerk. My name is Brendan Birch, and I'm from none other than Little Root Town. My father is Professor Birch, the regional professor for Hoenn. It's been bugging me for the past few months that nobody knows who I am... they all know me as "Birch's son". So, I've been spending a lot of my spare time training and battling, signing up to battle in Battle Towers or to compete in the Pokemon Leagues, trying to make a name for myself. A name that I can be proud of.

And so, here I am. Sitting in the Sinnoh Battle Tower, looking up at the kid I had just beat. And I don't mean to put him down, he put up a good fight, despite the type advantage on my part.

"Thanks, you too," I said and shook his hand. Might as well introduce myself— he seemed decent. "I'm Brendan."

I don't look much like my dad, so how people even recognize me as his son is beyond me. My dad is not only _bigger _than me, but we seem to contrast in every way possible. I have jet black hair while my dad has brown hair. His hair is neat and trimmed, while mine turns into a wild mess in front of my face when I take off my hat. His eyes are a dark brown, mine are a deep red. _How do they know?_

The boy's eyes lit up. "Brendan... Birch?" He asked, looking somewhat shocked. Figures. I just nodded. "Dude, I saw you in the Hoenn League like three years ago, then again in the Johto last year!" He smiled widely. "You're Professor Birch's son too, right?"

"Uh, yeah," I managed to say. Woah, no one has _ever_ said anything like that to me. I'm not sure if I'm flattered... or kind of weirded out. Whatever, _someone knows me for me. _

"I'm Lucas," he says, tossing another smile. He wore a blue poketch on one wrist, his hands were bare. Underneath his vest-thing was a pale blue shirt, his vest was navy with a white stripe across the front. Around his neck was a red scarf; his cargo pants were green. On his head was a red hat with a pokeball emblem on it that covered his short and slightly messy navy hair. Just looking at his outfit made me realize that I needed to switch my outfit up a bit. It's not my fault that I've been wearing the same outfit for a while... I just never thought of changing it.

The boy... Lucas, sat down on the bench next to me. "So... where're you from?" He asked awkwardly. I was genuinely surprised that he didn't assume that I'm from Little Root, were my dad's lab is.

"You seriously don't know?" I said, realizing that I came off as more conceited then I had hoped for. _Damn_, now he thinks I'm an cocky snob. "Err... you know... everyone just guesses that I'm.. uh... from where my dad's lab is...?" Wow, way to fix the situation. I mentally slapped myself. I hate making the wrong impression almost as much as how _hate _that people assume that I'm going to become some pokemon professor or something. Okay, lets try to fix the situation again. "Uhm, I'm from Littleroot Town."

"Oh, cool!" Lucas said with some enthusiasm, despite the awkward edge to his voice. "I'm from Sandgem Town myself. I work as an assistant to Professor Rowan, who surprisingly gave me a break, but I decided to sign up for the battle tower. Like oh, why not?"

"Assistant? Doesn't that..." How do I put this nicely? "...suck?" Oh that was smooth. He looked down.

"Uh, sometimes I guess. Well, it'd be great to be a real trainer. I almost never get to travel or anything... I've never been outside of Sinnoh." He said sheepishly, still looking down.

"Really?" I burst out first but then realized that it seemed... inconsiderate I guess? I don't know. "Oh, that must be hard." It did seem impossible. To never be able to leave Sinnoh _and_ be confined to a lab all day? It's harsh. I don't even like helping out my dad half of the time.

It was then that an idea struck my mind. "Uh, Lucas? How about you come to the Pokemon Center with me? I wanna call home and... uh... tell them... that I won."

"Way to rub it in," Lucas said, smirking playfully as he did so. "Sure, I'll come with you to the pokemon center if you want." Boy, he had no idea what's going to hit him.

* * *

_Lucas' POV_

Why Brendan dragged me to the pokemon center, I don't know. I pretty much sat there, nibbling on a Rage Candy Bar trying to be cheery, watching him talk on the phone to random people. First to his father who's the awesome Professor Birch, then to some boy with green hair and a Gardevior, then later to a girl with an green bandana and a beautifly. He spoke to some other people too, but I seemed to loose interest after that.

"Sure, I'll tell him. Okay... Bye Professor." I heard Brendan say, _finally. _I wonder what Professor he was speaking to? Maybe Professor Oak, he's pretty famous, right? Or what about Professor Rowan? God... that guy may be sixty or something but he's still enough to scare me.

Brendan walked over holding some box, looking rather pleased with himself. Probably because he _had_ won against me, after all. But I don't blame myself for loosing, I barely get a chance to train with all the work Rowan has me do.

"Hey! Nice... erm... box?" I grinned somewhat sheepishly. Well, it's not like I could say, '_Hey man, what the hell? You just made me wait an hour so you can talk on the phone. Not freaking cool.'_

"Thanks, its has some of my new clothing, _thank god._" He said, looking happily at the box. It made me want to look down at my clothing. I got my clothes pretty recently, just a few weeks ago, tops. I think I'll be good for another few months. "Anyways, we gotta head to Sandgem. Professor Rowan wants you 'immediately.'" Brendan made air quotes at the word 'immediately' and lowered his voice some. I started to crack up despite the fact that I'm awfully scared and confused.. Professor Rowan only says that he wants someone 'immediately' if he wants to fire them.

"What... Why does the Professor want _me?"_ You could say I'm scared right now. If I'm fired... then my life will crumble. And I'm dead serious. If he fires me, any hope to gain respect from him is completely lost. Zip. Nothing. Nada. Respect from Professor Rowan alone could take me to so many places... And I never really did anything to make him want to fire me... yeah, I've left his briefcase out in the open a few times, and sure, I've forgotten a few things... but besides that, I've been pretty good.

Yeah, but Brendan just smirked and pulled a green and white hat out of his box. "We'll see." Oh, how informative is _that. _I just rolled my eyes at him.

Meanwhile, he took off the black, white and red hat which sent his dark hair flying in front of his face messily. Watching him struggle with the strands of hair was almost funny, I would have laughed if I wasn't so damn confused.

* * *

_Brendan's POV_

God, I hate hair. There are reasons why I wear a hat that covers all of it. It's exactly what I need every morning. To have to try to get my long-ish black strands into a hat.

But anyways, back to the matter at hand. We, meaning Lucas and I, were standing outside Professor Rowan's lab. Lucas is pretty much scared out of his mind, probably thinking that he's going to get discharged or something. Oh boy, that's the total opposite of whats happening.

But Lucas doesn't have to know that.

I reached for the door before Lucas stopped me. "W-wait!" He said, hopping in front of the door.

"What?"

"Uh... do you think that cute pokemon are stronger then others?"

"Huh? I don't know, does it really matter?"

"Er... no." I reached for the door again, just to be interrupted again.

"_Lucas."_ I whined. I can't tell him whats going on, but I don't think I can deal with this stalling for much longer. "Professor Rowan is going to be mad when we don't show up." I crossed my arms, feeling impossibly a lot like a girl.

"Fine." He mumbled. I had to practically drag him through the door and into the Lab.

"You're late." Professor Rowan said, stepping forward. Woah, this guy was kind of intimidating. Looks like Lucas actually had a reason to be scared.

"Sorry Professor." Lucas said, looking down. He does that a lot.

"You don't do much as an assistant here."

"I-I... I'm sorry Professor."

"We don't require your services in this lab anymore, Lucas." With these words, Lucas look petrified.

"I'm sorry Professor." He repeated (sounding very much like a broken record, might I add), still looking down. I'm fighting the urge to look down too- is something exciting going on down there? A parade of frantic zigzagoons or something?

"Which is exactly why we need you- out _there."_ Professor Rowan smiled... in a sort of creepy way. Lucas' head snapped up.

"What do you mean?" Lucas seemed pretty confused.

"You're welcome." I murmured under my breath, smirking slightly.

Professor Rowan cleared his throat. "I'd like you to catalog pokemon in other regions for us. I've upgraded your pokedex, can we try not to loose it this time?" I'm sorry but I just _had_ to laugh. Lucas puffed out his chest.

"I didn't loose it, those galactic grunts stole it." He almost whined. Besides his little protest, Lucas seemed elated. "Wait- so you're saying that your going to let me travel and train and everything? The real deal?"

"Erm, why yes. But you must remember to do your work. Take care then, and report back to me every few months." Professor Rowan began to walk away when Lucas jumped up with joy. Literally.

"We are SO heading to Hoenn first." I grinned at Lucas... but he was too giddy to notice.

"OH, I almost forgot." Rowan turned around and nearly sprinted towards us. "Professor Oak sent a trainer from Pallet Town over to his grandson's lab in with hopes of traveling with their pokemon throughout various regions. I told Oak that the two of you could accompany them on their journey. I believe that the three of you would be helpful to one another." Say WHAT?

"Uh, okay." I said awkwardly. I mean, I'm all for having another dude to add to our trio, but since when did Gary Oak have a _lab?_ Gee, that makes me feel like a mega slacker. He's only been a researcher for a year or two, and I've had to help my dad out my entire life, and _I_ don't have a lab.

Glancing over at Lucas, he didn't seem to mind that we would have another person traveling with us. And you know? I don't think I care either. This is going to be some adventure, thats for sure.

**(****A/N: And thats the end of a weird chapter.**

**Just a few things I want to point out:**

**-If you hadn't noticed, Lucas' outfit in the anime is different to his in the games. They had to switch it up in the anime because his outfit in the games is worn by none other then the amazing (and dense) Ash Ketchum.**

**-As of Brendan's hair... they never really do explain it. If we go according to the Manga, he has black hair... so lets stick with that xD. But I don't like his hair when he takes his hat off in the manga. So can we go for a longer (and non green) Drew haircut? Yeah?**

**-I also have no idea if his eyes are really red. But hey, in the Manga his name is **_**Ruby. **_**That HAS to mean something, right?**

**-I tried to make it that Lucas and Brendan don't sound alike when they think. Meaning, Lucas may sound a bit... hyper? and Brendan might sound a **_**little**_** too concerned of what people think about him. But think about it- this is Lucas' first adventure, he has a reason to be jittery. And Brendan is just insecure. LOL.**

**-Brendan's been wearing the same outfit for... what? The past three movies he's made cameos in? It's time he wore something a bit different.**

**-Lucas _is_ going to like food. Thats one thing I like about his character in the manga xD)**


	2. Trying to Get Along

_Brendan_

We walked into Gary Oak's lab on route 222 around dusk to find him rubbing his temples and vigorously scribbling down something on a notepad. He looked kind of pissed off, if you ask me.

"Hey Oak, whats up?" I said casually with Lucas at my side. Man, I never realized how much he could eat... he reminds me of my friend May.

"BRENDAN, get rid of her!" Gary said, throwing his notepad down. Okay, he's officially lost it. I've known Gary for a while now. He's a year or so older then me but I'd constantly see him whenever Dad would send me on an errand.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas said, his mouth stuffed with a cookie. I rolled my eyes.

"That pesky girl." He said. I glanced around the room to see a few pokemon, a boy thats about ten years old, and a girl that was stroking her venesaur.

The girl looked up and spoke. "Gee Gary, you flatter me." She rolled her eyes before looking back at her venesaur.

On her head was a white hat with a pink, almost red, half poke symbol on it. Her light chestnut brown hair was long, some of it covered her turquoise shirt. On the bottom she wore a dark pink-red skirt with turquoise leg warmers and shoes to match her hat.

"That's Leaf, she's from Pallet Town too." Gary glared at the girl, she smiled sweetly. "She's supposed to be traveling with you guys." Say WHAT? Lucas choked on his cookie.

"Woah, but... you're a girl!" I said, kind of flustered. Okay, this wasn't exactly the first time that I'd expected a trainer to be a boy rather then a girl... its just that, most girls I know are co-ordinaters. And according to Rowan, this person we would be traveling seemed determined and spirited to become a good _trainer._

Leaf looked kind of annoyed, actually. "Are all guys sexist pigs?" She sent a disapproving glance at Gary who was back to writing on his notepad.

"No, no... its just... uh..." Oh, this adventure going to be fun. NOT.

"Don't worry Brendan, Leaf is just a sorry loser." Gary said with a smirk.

"Whatever you say... _poet._" She said, crossing her arms. This is going to get interesting.

"Hey Leaf?"

"Yeah?"

"I've got a poem for you."

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. _Roses are red, Leaves are green. I'm awesome, and you're too ugly to be seen._"

"Cute." She said sarcastically.

"How does that even make sense?" Lucas said and Leaf shot him a smile.

"If you two are done insulting me, could you get out of my lab?" Yeah, I think it was time that we left.

* * *

An hour later, the three of us were sitting around a fire, created by Lucas' magmortar.

We had all let our pokemon out eventually. It was our first night together, might as well share it with our pokemon. And as soon as we revealed our parties... I could tell that we were an odd bunch.

Lucas has a Munchlax, Magmortar, Infernape, Kadabra and Bidoof. My party consisted of four- Swampert, Shiftry, Rhyperior and Aggron. Leaf's party was the most... unexpected, if you ask me. She has her Venesaur, Wigglytuff, Charizard, Nidorina and a Pichu.

I'm not sure if this occurred to you, but the fact that most of our pokemon were extremely large was starting to creep me out.

Lucas was fast asleep in his navy sleeping bag looking content. A cookie lay forgotten in one hand, his pokedex in the other. His idea of sleepwear is sweatpants and some pajama-y looking shirt-thing, his navy hair was revealed by his now absent hat, his munchlax was snuggling by his side. Infernape and Magmortar were leaning against eachother by the fire, Bidoof was laying on Swampert's head. Shiftry, Rhyperior and Aggron had found a shady spot underneath a tree along with Charizard. Nidorina and Venesaur sat on either sides of Leaf, as if protecting her from something. Pichu was snoozing in her hat, which she had carelessly tossed aside.

I sat on my sleeping bag, trying to stay real close to the fire. Hey, Sinnoh's a lot colder then Hoenn! My hat was on my lap, my hair flying in a million different directions. I stared at our little group, happy with the scenario.

"Which region are we going to?" Leaf said quietly, looking into the fire.

"Uh, what about Kanto?"

"Hell no, I'm sick of Kanto already. How about Johto?"

"Been there, done that."

"Sinnoh?"

"Yeah, if you want Professor Rowan to kill us."

She crossed her arms and pouted. "Well you're not helping me very much."

I sighed. "How about Hoenn? Home's been looking pretty sweet lately." I glanced over at Leaf, who's eyes began to sparkle at the word 'Hoenn'.

"Perfect!" She squealed, causing Lucas to move in uneasiness. Could she at least _try _not to wake him up?

"SHH!" I called, only somewhat trying to be quiet.

"Oh shut up."

"Yeah, tell yourself that."

"Trying to pick a fight, Birch?"

"Whatever you want to do... Mrs. Oak." Okay, maybe I was testing my luck. She looked like she was going to spit at me.

"Yeah, whatever." She said, looking away. And... for some reason... I felt the urge to walk over and comfort her, to say sorry or something. Must be the new sense of adventure biting me in the butt or something.

We kind of sat there in silence for a while. It was pretty nice, the quietness of it all. Well, until I heard chattering teeth in the background to everyone's low breathing. What the hell is that? I glanced around quickly... our pokemon seemed pretty content, Lucas was snoozing happily...

And Leaf was sitting with her arms wrapped around herself, looking longingly into the fire... almost like she wished she could jump into it.

"Hey... erm, Grass... you okay?" I said, half teasingly. I'd rather give her the impression that I _don't _care about her... it'd be easier to travel that way. Let Lucas be the gushy one.

"The n-names L-l-leaf, m-moron." She said almost pathetically, her insult was lost in her shivering.

And you know what? For a few seconds, I felt bad. I mean, I'm freezing my ass off here too, but she's wearing a freaking mini-skirt and tank-top thing, her sleeping bag seemed super thin in comparison to mine and Lucas'. At least I have pants on, after all. I hadn't changed into my new clothing yet, apart from my hat.

"Are you cold?" Wow, what a stupid question to ask. I rolled my eyes at my own remark.

"N-no." She said almost in a whisper. If there was ever a time to yell liar...

With a sigh, I shrugged my red and black jacket off and held it out to her. She looked down at my jacket curiously, then back up at me. Her eyes met mine- brown on red. You could say that I blushed a bit, the urge to look away is pretty much overwhelming right now.

Leaf flushed a light pink before taking the jacket and pulling it on.

"Erm, thanks." She mumbled.

"Uh... I'm gunna go to sleep. 'Night." I managed to say, rather awkwardly- if you ask me. I retreated into my sleeping bag, pulling the black cover over my head.

"'Night." She said, probably returning to her sleeping bag.

"You know... maybe traveling with a dude that eats like a munchlax and a girl who's a major feminist won't be too bad after all..." I mumbled before succumbing into the darkness, leaving the awkward blushing fits and mass amounts of food behind me.


End file.
